April 7, 2021

Innovative / Curryish

 

We never would have imagined that Covid 19 pandemic will change everyone's life both personally and professionally. Every industry started facing lots of struggles because of the lockdown. People started working from home, a few started working for reduced hours and many lost their jobs. Especially, the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on restaurants was huge. Many well-established restaurants got closed permanently because of the massive financial hit. The layoff changed everyone's career. People started changing their field of expertise to survival jobs and started working for low wages. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, French cafes and restaurants were closed by order of the government to prevent the spread of the virus.. [Photograph]. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest.
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For a few people, this covid changed their life and career in a positive way by turning into entrepreneurs. Personally, this pandemic changed my life in a positive way. The layoff made me think about my future and joined George brown college to pursue my dream of becoming a Chef. One of my friends who worked along with me opened her own Filipino restaurant and also, many of my friends started moving to different industries. 

People started becoming creative in their business. This reminds me of the proverb, "Necessity is the mother of innovation".

                                Innovative lamp. Big idea. [Clip Art]. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest.
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Like many industries, the restaurant industry is also facing many challenges and assessing strategies to recover from the impact of the sudden closure. This situation became a moment of innovation. People started becoming creative and innovative by implementing new technologies and business models. Many food restaurants changed their menu according to take away, a few moved their restaurant as a drive-in and a few started selling meal kits, baking kits, pizza kits, etc. This pandemic changed our way of thinking and innovation has become the trend to sustain in the industry during this period. 

Likewise, this pandemic changed the life of Chef Miheer Shete who is the founder of Curryish. 


Burman, D., 2020. Chef Miheer Shete. [image] Available at: <https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/12/23/small-businesses-innovating-via-instagram-to-stay-afloat-during-covid-19/> [Accessed 23 December 2020].

"Curryish" is a contemporary Indian restaurant that prepares innovative Indian recipes using seasonal local Canadian ingredients without compromising the authentic Indian flavors. The innovator behind Curryish is Chef Miheer Shete, who was born in Mumbai, India, and settled in Toronto. He has over 20 years of kitchen experience and worked in various countries like UK, India, the USA, and now in Toronto. He also worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant in London before moving to Canada in 2009. In Toronto, he worked as a Chef de cuisine at the fine dining restaurant until the pandemic hit. 

After lay off, his positivity made him start his own food business in the name of "Curryish". It is a modern yet home-cooked Indian meal that is prepared and delivered to our doorstep. The menus are unique and delicious which is not available in any Indian restaurant menus. The curries made by Chef Miheer are totally different from the regular heavy Indian curries. Each recipe is made simple, healthy, and delicious. The spices are homemade and many of them belong to his family recipe. His grandfather has been running a successful Spice shop in Mumbai since 1942.

He launched his business entirely on Instagram and running successfully. Social media is used as his promoting page for his business. He reveals his menus every week online and mostly consists of 4-5 course meals. The meals are 90% cooked, vacuum packed, and labeled with detailed instruction on how to finish the dish at home. The meal kits look very simple yet innovative. 

The order is taken during weekdays and then, he delivers on the weekend. The instructions seem to be simple like roasting the meat, cooking rice, and adding prepared curry over it. His cooking is influenced by European Culinary skills using modern-day techniques in traditional Indian cooking. Apart from offering weekly curated meal kits, he also does private dining and catering services. 

If you want to follow his page or place an order, login to www.curryish.ca and his Instagram id - @curryishh.

Sharing a few of his innovative and delicious recipes.. 



I believe Curryish falls under the innovation category. I love the idea of innovative curated meal kits which give a fine dining experience at home. Also, this logic helps the customer to involve their family or friends to finish the cooking and enjoy the meal together. Especially during this pandemic situation, this kind of experience does not make us miss going to restaurants. His recipes showcase Indian food in a very approachable and versatile way. And also, using technology for marketing food is a smart and innovative way to handle things during this crisis. 

The price of the kit is around $95. I feel it is really worth, value for money and reasonable. Ordering for 3-4 people in Uber or Skip the dishes takes almost the same price for a regular Indian meals. But his kit, not only gives a unique experience and also, gives an innovative, healthy and delicious meal. 
 
His idea really made a huge impact on me and changed the ideology of opening a regular type of restaurant in the future. No dine required and importantly, lockdown does not affect the business. Delivering directly to the customers gives a personalized touch and helps businesses too. Also, the idea of using contemporary cooking without comprising the Indian flavor and Indian roots is amazing. Personally, I like his way of cooking because somewhere I see myself in his cooking. I love fusion cooking.

Farmers assignment gave me the inspiration of becoming a farmer one day and this assignment gave me the hope of opening an innovative food business in the future. Maybe I can use my own produce from the farm to create a delicious innovative recipe, farm to the table :) 

References

Chen, P. (2021). Toronto chef Miheer Shete, founder of Curryish, on how to spice up your life. thestar.com. Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2021/03/11/toronto-chef-miheer-shete-founder-of-curryish-on-how-to-spice-up-your-life.html.

Doss, S. (2021). Delivery for Diwali: Suresh's picks for fine dining and gelato at home | CBC News. CBC. Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/suresh-diwali-food-picks-1.5799021.

Curryish, A. (2020). Taste Indian, inspiration Canadian. Curryish. Retrieved 7 April 2021, from https://curryish.ca/.


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